Families with babies are stranded in Mallacoota - where the sky has once again turned “pitch black” - after being told they would not be evacuated via Navy ships because their children were under five.

Emergency Management Victoria said “vulnerable individuals” - including families with children under school age, the elderly and people with disabilities - would be prioritised for airlift.

However, some remain stuck in Mallacoota after flights out were grounded due to the smoke.

In a briefing on Saturday evening ADF Brigadier Doug Laidlaw said some small children and elderly people had been evacuated on HMAS Choules.

Tens of thousands of livestock are likely to have perished in the bushfires

Their carcasses are scattered across fire-devastated communities, with agricultural body Agforce saying there are biosecurity and health reasons to dispose of them as soon as possible

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has established a national agency to deal with logistical challenges of bushfire recovery

In fire-scorched Batlow, New South Wales, animal carcasses line the sides of the road, with farmers beginning the slow, difficult and grim work of loading the bodies onto the trays of utes.

Most are sheep and cattle held on surrounding properties. Most are clumped together, their bodies blackened.

Farmers said they were as prepared for the fire as they could be, and while some animals had survived, they could not save them all.

With stock losses estimated to be at least in the tens of thousands, and public health and biosecurity risks to consider, logistical arrangements for the removal of carcasses are being factored into recovery efforts.

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